What is KNX?

KNX: Introduction

More convenience, more safety, higher energy savings: The demand for building management systems is continuously increasing.

Whether in a single-family house or in an office complex, the demand for
comfort and versatility in the management of air-conditioning, lighting
and access control systems is growing. At the same time, the efficient
use of energy is becoming increasingly important. More convenience and
safety coupled with lower energy consumption can however only be
achieved by intelligent control and monitoring of all products involved.
This however implies more wiring, running from the sensors and
actuators to the control and monitoring centres. Such a mass of wiring
in turn means higher design and installation effort, increased fire risk
and soaring costs.

The Answer: KNX – the Worldwide STANDARD for Home and Building Control

In order to transfer control data to all building management components,
a system is required that does away with the problems of isolated
devices by ensuring that all components communicate via one common
language: in short, a system such as the manufacturer and application
domains independent KNX Bus. This standard is based upon more than 24
years of experience in the market, amongst others with predecessor
systems to KNX: EIB, EHS and BatiBUS. Via the KNX medium to which all
bus devices are connected (twisted pair, radio frequency, power line or
IP/Ethernet), they are able to exchange information. Bus devices can
either be sensors or actuators needed for the control of building
management equipment such as: lighting, blinds / shutters, security
systems, energy management, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning
systems, signalling and monitoring systems, interfaces to service and
building control systems, remote control, metering, audio / video
control, white goods, etc. All these functions can be controlled,
monitored and signalled via a uniform system without the need for extra
control centres.

Lighting

Blinds &Shutters

SecuritySystems

EnergyManagement

HVACSystems

MonitoringSystems

RemoteControl

Metering

Audio/VideoControls

WhiteGoods

KNX: The Meaning

World means

References all over the world: the world of home and building control "speaks" KNX. Several millions of
successful KNX installations can be found not only all over Europe but
also in the Far East, North and South America - a proof of just how attractive the KNX approach is. Over 370 KNX member companies worldwide
offer more than 7.000 KNX certified product groups in their catalogues,
from different application domains.

Open Standard means

KNX is approved as an International Standard (ISO/IEC 14543-3) as well as an European
Standard (CENELEC EN 50090 and CEN EN 13321-1) and Chinese Standard
(GB/T 20965). KNX is therefore future proof. KNX products made by
different manufacturers can be combined – the KNX trademark logo
guarantees their interworking and interoperability. KNX is therefore the
world´s only open Standard for the control in both commercial and
residential buildings.

Home and Building Control means

A benefit in every type of building: From the office complex to the average household. Whatever the kind of
building is, KNX opens up complete new opportunities for building
control systems while keeping the costs at a manageable level. KNX can
provide solutions that can only be realized with considerable effort
with conventional installation techniques. Via a single touch panel, all
applications in the home or building can be controlled. From heating,
ventilation and access control to the remote control of all household
appliances – KNX allows completely new ways to increase comfort, safety
and energy savings in the home or building.

KNX: A single approach with many advantages

Low operating costs resulting in considerable energy savings Lighting and heating are only switched on when needed, e.g. depending on
time profiles and/or actual presence, thus saving energy and money.
Furthermore lighting can be controlled automatically in relation to the
daylight intensity of the daylight, thus maintaining a specified minimum
level of brightness at each work place and reducing energy consumption
(only those light sources really needed remain switched on).

Time saving Interlinking all communicating devices with a single bus considerably
reduces design and installation time. A unique manufacturer and
application domains independent Engineering Tool Software (ETS) allows
the design, engineering and configuration of installations containing
KNX certified products. As the tool is manufacturer independent, the
system integrator is able to combine products of different manufacturers
with different communication media (twisted pair, radio frequency,
power line or IP/Ethernet) to one installation.

Flexibility and adaptability to future developments A KNX installation can be easily adapted to new applications and is
easily extendable. New components can be easily connected to the
existing bus installation.

KNX Association: Your guarantee for a worldwide standard!

The driving force behind KNX is KNX Association, a group of leading
companies active in many fields of home and building control. Currently,
KNX Association has more than 370 members, accounting for more than 80%
of the home and building control devices sold in Europe. As common
goal, these companies promote the development of building installation
systems in general and KNX as the world’s only open STANDARD for home
and building control. Worldwide KNX Association has partnership
agreements with more than 44.000 installer companies in 128 countries,
more than 100 technical universities as well as over 300 training
centres.